Your profile does not say where you live. If you are trading equities from NJ, well under 50ms is reasonable. If you are overseas or further away, you need hosting or an AWS desktop near NJ to get under that. We can’t control your internet path to our servers in NJ. But once your orders reach us, we are very fast.
I've shared this before...Disregard if you've read it before. I'm a light trader in options (covered calls/puts, manual). With options, Fidelity will let me route. If it's a heavy traded option (think Apple), I will go with their route...PFOF, hoping for price improvement. If it's lightly traded, I will use CBOE. They work good for me and no sneaky moves. Both Schwab and Fidelity will not allow me to choose a exchange for buying or selling stocks...I'm small, and they need to make their money. I usually choose a midpoint, if I want to move fast. If not, I'll wait to let the market come to me (something my dad taught me in the 1970's)!! Also Schwab will not allow me to route for their options. It is what it is for the small trader...
I answered your question in your other thread as well. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/question-about-options-execution-method.380589/ Please try to open just one thread for the same question. Thanks.
They're not. He thinks he's entitled to be filled at mid and when he is (filled) he doesn't realize it's bc price has moved against him. There is no broker that will satisfy this nutter.
Most investors complaining about bad fills never say where the orders are executing. It's frustrating
I trade a lot of equity vol and I don't notice any improvement, one venue over another. He's arguing broker's fills when it has nothing to do with the broker.
I'm not entirely sure where Firstrade sends orders to be executed. I know that they clear through Apex, with Citadel being the main dealer apparently. Also they list 5 exchanges, including CBOE.